Briefs · Education and Upskilling
India Is Teaching AI to Eight-Year-Olds — Before Teaching It to Anyone Else
India is teaching AI to eight-year-olds — before teaching it to anyone else.
The Government of India announced plans to bring artificial intelligence into teaching and learning at all education levels from the 2026–27 academic year. The curriculum starts in Class 3, and AI is to be taught as a basic universal skill, not a specialised subject, under the National Education Policy 2020 and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education 2023.
CBSE and NCERT are finalising the frameworks and materials. An expert committee chaired by Professor Karthik Raman of IIT Madras is steering the work, with Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan and Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti involved. Teaching materials and handbooks were targeted for December 2025, and teacher training will run through NISHTHA, reaching more than ten million teachers.
The formal decision came earlier, on 29 October 2025: AI and computational thinking become mandatory in Classes 3 to 8 from 2026–27, expanding to Classes 9 and 10 in 2027–28.
Class 3, computing, and a country-sized classroom. India is not adding a subject. It is adding a literacy.
Conclusion: AI in Indian schools is not a subject, but rather a skill — like reading, only newer.
Read the original at Convergence
Summary in our own words. The original belongs to its publisher.